Say," hopefully, "do you suppose SHE was the one fixed that chair ?" They heard Mrs.Hobbs on the floor above, shouting: "Mary-'Gusta! Mary-'Gusta! Where are you?
Answer me this minute!" "Don't seem to be in that room she was talkin' about," grumbled Shadrach.

"Tut! Tut! What a voice that is! Got a rasp to it like a rusty saw." Mrs.Hobbs was heard descending the stairs.

Her face, when she reentered the sitting-room, was red and she looked more "put out" than ever.
"She ain't there," she answered, angrily.

"She's gone." "Gone ?" repeated Zoeth and Shadrach in chorus.
"Gone ?" repeated the Judge.

"Do you mean she's run away ?" "No, no! She ain't run away--not for good; she knows better than that.
She's sneaked off and hid, I suppose.